Saturday, January 30, 2016

New Delhi: The Seventh Pay Commission headed justice A K Mathur has correctly predicted the dearness allowance (DA) hike to 125 per cent from the existing 119 per cent since January 2016.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

The Seventh Pay Commission in its report, submitted to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, said that fitment of pay matrix of the central government employees was made assuming that the rate of Dearness Allowance (DA) would be 125 percent at the time of implementation of the new pay as on January 2016.

The average rate of retail inflation for industrial workers from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 works out to be 6.82 percent, according Consumer Price Index—Industrial Workers data for December was released by Labour Ministry today.

Thus, entitling the central government employees to 6 percent additional DA from January 1, 2016.

The DA of employees would increase from 119 per cent on July 1, 2015 to 125 per cent on January 1, 2016.

However, the central government employees’ unions are not very enthused by the 6 per cent hike in the dearness allowance as their demand of implementation of Seventh Pay Commission award with higher minimum pay as well as some modifications in their favours.

It is added that the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha for processing the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission, will hold its first meeting on February 2 to review the pay commission recommendations.

NEW DELHI: In a stern message to government officials refusing to mend their ways despite repeated complaints, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked secretaries to carry out assessment of such employees and recommend action, including dismissal and slashing their pension.The PM also asked all central government departments, which have to extensively deal with the public, to set up a grievance-monitoring mechanism.Thed PM's warning came as he reviewed grievances relating to the excise and customs department during his monthly interaction with central government secretaries and chief secretaries of states through Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI), a web-based interface, sources said."Though he (the PM) specifically asked the excise and customs department to identify and take action against such officials, he said the message is for all secretaries and chief secretaries," a secretary level official told TOI.The department of personnel and training (DoPT) rules specify the circumstances under which an a government officer can be "retired" in "public interest". Rule 56(J) of Fundamental Rules says, "Notwithstanding anything contained in this rule, the appropriate authority shall, if it is of the opinion that it is in public interest to do so, have the absolute right to retire any government servant by giving him notice of not less than three months in writing or three months' pay and allowances."Employees attaining 55 years can be impacted under this rule.Similarly, Rule 48 of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rule says, "At any time after a government servant has completed 30 years qualifying service, (a) he may retire from service or (b) he may be required by the appointing authority to retire in public interest, and in case of such retirement, the government servant shall be entitled to a retiring pension."

As per rules, the government can initiate disciplinary action against any employee for dereliction of duty, and his pension and other benefits can be withheld pending investigation.In an official release, the PMO said that taking strong exception to public complaints and grievances related to the customs and excise department, the PM asked for "strict action against responsible officials. He urged all secretaries whose departments have extensive public dealing, to set up a system for top-level monitoring of grievances immediately".

Officials said though the Central Board of Excise and Customs said it had already been initiating steps to warn errant officials and installed CCTV cameras to keep tab on them, the PM observed that they must take quick action in such cases.Sources said Modi also asked top bureaucrats to work together and resolve prickly issues quickly and get out of the "government way of doing business" by passing files from one to another.This was Modi's ninth such interaction through PRAGATI.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Providing a boost to the e-commerce industry in India, the post departments had handled cash on delivery (COD) orders worth Rs.500 crore up to March 2015 and is expected to reach about Rs.1,500 crore by end of 2015-16, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday.

Till December 2015, the COD value has crossed Rs.1,000 crore.

Speaking at the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the communications & IT ministry, on the e-commerce initiatives of the department of posts, he said various steps taken by the department for gearing up its capabilities for handling e-commerce parcel business as well as introducing services such as COD have revolutionized the e-commerce business in India.

Prasad also said the government's initiative to digitalize functioning would help in making e-commerce reach every corner. He said the initiative would further enhance India Posts' reach as national carrier.

Providing a boost to the e-commerce industry in India, the post departments had handled cash on delivery (COD) orders worth Rs.500 crore up to March 2015 and is expected to reach about Rs.1,500 crore by end of 2015-16, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday.

Till December 2015, the COD value has crossed Rs.1,000 crore.

Speaking at the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the communications & IT ministry, on the e-commerce initiatives of the department of posts, he said various steps taken by the department for gearing up its capabilities for handling e-commerce parcel business as well as introducing services such as COD have revolutionized the e-commerce business in India.

Prasad also said the government's initiative to digitalize functioning would help in making e-commerce reach every corner. He said the initiative would further enhance India Posts' reach as national carrier.

The department of posts had set up 48 new parcel processing centers so far and nine more such centers are coming up during the current financial year, he said.

"These efforts in the last eighteen months have resulted in an overall revenue growth in the parcel segment by 45 percent during 2014-15 and more than 100 percent in the current financial year," Prasad said.

New Delhi: The Seventh Pay Commission award becomes boon for central government employees, is not going to be implemented before the implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP).

According to a Finance Ministry official concerned, the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) for processing the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission, is taking time to let the notification of One Rank One Pension (OROP) be executed first.

He added the notification of One Rank One Pension (OROP) was issued on November 08, while notification of the Seventh Pay Commission yet to be issued and ex-servicemen are pressing hard to implement OROP with some modifications.

Accordingly, the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations will not be implemented until One Rank One Pension (OROP) is implemented.

“The Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) will sit soon to talk about review of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations,” the official added.

Besides, hike minimum pay From Rs 18,000, rejection of Pay Commission’s recommendation for abolition of some allowances and advances and amendment to service rules is required, the official said. “For this reason also, time is needed.”

Finance Ministry sources said if the government followed the Seventh Pay Commission’s salaries and allowances revision proposals, expenditures would rise Rs 1.02 lakh crore in 2016.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier said financing the additional amount would not be a problem to implement the Seventh Pay Commission award.

The thirteen-member Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS), led by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, was formed on Wednesday.

In addition to reviewing the pay hike proposals for central government employees, the Empowered Committee of Secretaries will also looking after the pay hikes for the armed forces.

The Seventh Pay Commission, led by Justice A K Mathur submitted its proposals to the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on November 19 last year, recommending 23.55 per cent pay hike of central government employees, health insurance insurance scheme for staff and pensioners and doubling the gratuity ceiling to Rs 20 lakh.

The highest salary of Rs 2.5 lakh was recommended for the cabinet secretary; currently his basic monthly pay is Rs 90,000.

The government plans to implement the hikes pay from January this year. The Seventh Pay Commission was set up by the UPA government in February 2014.

Currently, there are over 48 Lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners.

20 cities propose an investment of Rs.50,802 cr over five years; All cities to resort to PPP

26,735 acres area in 20 cities identified for making them smart

The Government today announced the 20 winners of the Smart City Challenge competition for financing during this financial year. Announcing the cities here today, Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu said that the winners were from 11 States and the Union Territory of Delhi and the selection was totally objective and transparent based on standardized processes.

Shri Naidu further said that Smart City Mission marks a paradigm shift towards urban development in the country since it is based on ‘bottom up’ approach with the involvement of citizens in formulation of city vision and smart city plans and the Urban Local Bodies and State Governments piloting the mission with little say for the Ministry of Urban Development. He also observed that it was for the first time in the country and even in the world that investments in urban sector are being made based on competition based selection of cities.

Informing that 1.52 crore citizens participated in shaping smart city plans of 97 cities and towns in the first round of competition, Shri Naidu said that this enthusiastic participation of people is a major positive outcome.

3 cities from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and one each from the remaining five made it to the winning list.

The Minister informed that 23 States and UTs who could not make to the list of winners will be given an opportunity to participate in a ‘fast track competition’. Each top ranking city form these left out states can upgrade their smart city proposals and submit them by April 15, this year for inclusion in the mission.

Shri Naidu informed that the 20 winning cities and towns have proposed a total investment of Rs.50,802 cr over five years with all the cities proposing Public-Private-Partnership as a major vehicle of resource mobilization. 10 of the 20 cities have proposed to mobilise Rs.8,521 cr under PPP model while others have also indicated this option. A total area of 26,735 acres has been identified by these cities for making them smart through necessary interventions.

Elaborating on the advantages of Smart City Mission, Shri Venkaiah Naidu said that this leads to integrated urban planning by addressing the issue of infrastructure, land use planning, transport, urban design and architecture in a holistic manner unlike in the past. Stating that building a smart city is not a destination but a series of small steps in that direction, Shri Naidu said that the country has taken one such step today.

The Minister said that urban local bodies are taking a quantum jump to improve their capabilities and have resorted to SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of each city for coming out with city vision.

The 20 smart cities announced by Shri Venkaiah Naidu were :

Rank

City

State

1

Bhubaneswar

Odisha

2

Pune

Maharashtra

3

Jaipur

Rajasthan

4.

Surat

Gujarat

5

Kochi

Kerala

6

Ahmedabad

Gujarat

7

Jabalpur

Madhya Pradesh

8

Visakhapatnam

Andhra Pradesh

9

Solapur

Maharashtra

10

Davanagere

Karnataka

11

Indore

Madhya Pradesh

12

New Delhi Municipal Council

Delhi

13

Combattore

Tamil Nadu

14

Kakinada

Andhra Pradesh

15

Belagavi

Karnataka

16

Udaipur

Rajasthan

17

Guwahati

Assam

18

Chennai

Tamil Nadu

19

Ludhiana

Punjab

20

Bhopal

Madya Pradesh

Of these 20 cities accounting for a total population of 3.54 crore, 5 have population below 5 lakhs each, 4 in the range of 5-10 lakhs, 6 in between 10-25 lakhs, 4 between 25 and 50 lakhs and only Ahmedabad has above 50 lakhs.

India Post has launched wall calendar for the year 2016 featuring Baramasa series of paintings on twelve pages of calendar. A set of four commemorative stamps featuring Ritu Rang (Vasant / spring), Greeshm / summer, Varsha / monsoon) and Hemant /winter) issued in 1996 has been reproduced on all pages of calendar. Each stamp highlights the essence of the season it depicts.

The India Post 2016 Calendar is available for sale at the price of Rs 250 in all philatelic bureaus and it is also available at ePost Office portal of India Post.

Digital India Initiative Would Further Enable India Post to take E-Commerce to Every Indian

India Post Well Set to Bridge Rural-Urban Divide

Union Minister for Communication and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad said today that NDA Government’s initiative to digitalize functioning would help in making e-commerce reach every corner. He said the initiative would further enhance India posts reach as national carrier. The Minister also highlighted that the Government’s ‘Digital India Project’ was working to bring the internet and broadband to the remotest corners of the country giving further boost to the growing e-commerce market. Department of Posts, with its largest postal network in the world is the biggest potential partner to the e-commerce companies being the only last mile logistics handler across the country.

Speaking at the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Communications& IT, on the e-Commerce initiatives of the Department of Posts, he said that various steps taken by the Department of Posts for gearing up its capabilities for handling e-Commerce parcel business as well as introducing services such as Cash on Delivery which have completely revolutionized the e-commerce business in India. The Department had handled COD value worth Rs. 500 crores up to March 2015 which has now crossed Rs. 1000 crores till December 2015 and is expected to reach around Rs. 1500 crores by the end of the current financial year.

The Minister shared with the Committee that one of his prime agenda was to bring about a change in the post office operations so that it can play a larger role in providing accessibility of products and services to the door step of each and every individual across the country. With the IT Modernization Project in an advanced stage of implementation, Department of Posts is well set to redefine its operations to tap the e-commerce industry. This is not only going to further augment its revenue but it will also play a larger role in connecting India more comprehensively by reaching out to the door step of the consumers across the country, thereby bridging the Digital and urban rural divide in terms of availability of products.

The Department had set up 48new Parcel Processing Centers so far and 9 more such centers are coming up during the current financial year. These efforts in the last eighteen months have resulted in an overall revenue growth in the parcel segment by 45% during 2014-15 and more than 100% in the current financial year. Similarly, Speed Post, the flagship product of the Department also has premium parcel component which has registered a growth of 12.5% in the current financial year as against 8.9% last year giving overall revenue of more than Rs 1100 crores to the Department in the current year so far. Business from major e-commerce companies are growing. Amazon India booking has increased from average 50,000 articles per month last year to 3 lakhs articles per month in the current year and so is the case of other players like Flipkart, Myntra etc. where the bookings have increased from 15,000 per month to 30,000-50,000 per month.

The members of the Consultative Committee appreciated the steps taken by the Department of Posts and complimented on its efforts to bring rural India into the e-commerce mainstream as well as enhancing its revenues through parcel and Speed Post business.

The meeting was attended by the Hon’ble Members of Parliament, Sh Nepal Singh, Sh Raj Babbar, Sh Bhola Singh, Sh Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Smt Ranjanben Bhatt and Sh K Gopal The Hon’ble Members suggested that the Post Offices should not only enhance their visibility but should also become the rural centers for providing computer and internet facilities to the youth. Similarly, the Post Shoppes’ opened by the Department should be expanded and they should also retail telecom SIM and top-up cards.

Railway Ministry introduces new checks on booking of e-ticket/i-ticket through IRCTC website with a view to further prevent possible misuse Under the new provisions a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked online by an individual user in a month on IRCTC website This new provision will come into effect w.e.f. 15th February, 2015. The move aims to deter touts and to facilitate genuine users

In order to facilitate genuine users and prevent touting activities, various checks have already been put in place for the booking of e-ticket/i-ticket on IRCTC website including the following : -

1. Individuals are allowed only 2 tickets per user-ID in a day (for ARP booking) from 08:00 hours to 10.00 hours.

2. Individuals are allowed only 2 tickets per user-ID in a day (for Tatkal booking) from 10:00 hours to 12:00 hours.

3. A maximum of 10 tickets can be booked online in a month by an individual.

4. Quick Book Option is disabled from 08:00 to 12:00 hours

5. All types of ticketing agents (YTSK, RTSA, IRCTC agents etc.) have been debarred from booking tickets during the first thirty minutes of opening of booking i.e. from 08:00 to 08:30 hours for general bookings, and from 10:00 to 10:30 hours and 11:00 to 11:30 hours for Tatkal booking in AC and non-AC classes respectively.

6. Booking is not allowed through e-wallet and cash cards from 08:00 to 12:00 hours.

7. There is only one booking in one user login session except for return/onward journey between 08:00 to 12:00 hours.

To further prevent any possible misuse, Ministry of Railways has now decided that effective from 15th February, 2016, a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked online by an individual user in a month on IRCTC website. This will replace the existing system under which a maximum of 10 tickets can be booked online through IRCTC website in a month by an individual. However, the existing condition will continue wherein these booking will be subject to a limit of booking 2 opening Tatkal tickets in 10:00- 12:00 hours period in a day and 2 opening Advance Reservation Period (ARP) tickets in 08:00-10:00 hours period in a day.

This has been done keeping in view the analysis of usage of quota of 10 tickets which indicated that 90% of users are booking upto 6 tickets in a given month and only 10% are making more than 6 tickets. It is suspected that the 10% users might be involved in touting activities. Therefore to deter such touts and to facilitate genuine users, it has been decided that a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked by an individual user in a month.

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh has appealed to various ministries in the Central Government as well as the State Governments to cooperate in carrying forward the Department of Personnel & Training(DoPT)’s innovative reform to switch over to the use of “one-page" form or format to apply for jobs, issue of birth and death certificates and availing of various Government schemes.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that the service delivery mechanism needs to be not only citizen-centric, but essentially youth-centric because it is the youth who comprise more than 65% of India’s population today. It is, therefore, the need of the hour, he said, to revisit and re-look the existing practice wherein an individual applying for a job, a loan or a Central scheme has to go through the process of filling up lengthy, often complicated and even repetitive information.

Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that DoPT has already introduced one-page form for Central Pensioners. Similarly, the death and birth certificates could also be simplified immediately, he said. The “National Centre for Good Governance” will be holding workshops under its initiative “Saral Avedan, Sugam Prakriya, Swachh Prashasan” with different Government departments to discuss how best to carry forward this initiative, he said.

Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that there are a number of forms which run into several pages and the information asked for is repetitive which can be easily avoided. For example, he said, some of the forms ask for the parentage or marital status more than once, even though this may not be essentially required for the purpose for which the application is being filled. Citing an instance, he said, when a form is filled for pension, the most relevant information required is age, date of superannuation, last pay scale and bank account number.

According to Dr Jitendra Singh the purpose of the entire exercise is that any given form should be made as simple as possible, preferably a single A4 size page, the contents of the form should be easy to understand and brief to fill-in. Similarly, the documents to be attached with the form should also be easy and absolutely essential, he added. He also informed that the State Governments will be persuaded to initiate this exercise at the earliest.